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“Indeed,” I said. “You’ve worked hard to graduate at the top of your class, and getting this residency took a backbreaking amount of hard work. I can easily see why you stand proud, proclaiming you’re not adorable or cute.”
She rolled her eyes and smeared a hand across her forehead, “You know, maybe it’s best if we start over from here.”
“I was starting over from here,” I played along. “You’re the one who’s insistent upon putting your actions under a microscope and claiming they were shameful; actions which nearly got my ass knocked out, by the way.”
“Sorry about that,” she cringed.
“It’s fine,” I patronized her. “Anyway, I just brought you in today in a fun way, hoping to ease any stress you may have had after learning I was your new lead doctor. Apparently, that wasn’t flying with you, so if you want nothing but professional from me?—”
“Thank you,” she cut me off and practically hugged me.
“I wasn’t finished,” I played back.
God, I did hope this woman could handle my ass.
“Oh, great,” she said, giving me a brief glimpse again at the woman I met the other night.
I smiled, “Yeah, so if you want professional behavior from me during our downtime, you’re in for disappointment. I’m a consummate professional when my patients are involved, but I’m not some old stiff stalking the halls of this place. I spend too much time here not to be happy and have fun, so you’d better be ready.”
“You’re going to make my life hell here, aren’t you?”
“Depends on what level of hell you’re talking about,” I smirked. “Now, go enjoy the last five minutes of your lunch. I’m not lying when I say it’s usually so busy you can’t get a bite of food down if you’re on call. Enjoy the rare moments when they come.”
With a brief nod, I pulled my eyes from her beautiful green ones and marched toward my office. Her fun, daring, and challenging expression was sexy as fuck, and I needed to remind myself to cool it. She was way too dangerously attractive for me to fuck around with and let my guard down.
Something deep within me told me that our working together was not going to be Mickie’s hell…it would be mine.
Chapter Two
Mickie
After the disastrous first day of my residency at Saint John’s, I was pleasantly surprised to have gotten through the rest of the week with no major incidents.
I hated the idea of anyone thinking I wasn’t dedicated to being the best at whatever I did, especially when it came to being a doctor. Maybe my competitive nature could be intense, but it was me to the core.
Knowing that Dr. Aster probably thought I was some ridiculous broad, running around bars and playing stupid games with her ex-fiancé—dragging random men into a drama of her own creation—sent my blood pressure through the roof. Nothing could’ve been a less accurate description of who I was, regardless of if he had every right to think so.
My ex, Jesse, would’ve been the first to announce what a dud I was. I didn’t go to bars, I didn’t play games, and I most certainly didn’t pick up random men and brag about myself to them. I'm sure my lack of spontaneity had more than a little to do with the downfall of our relationship. But I wouldn’t apologize for who I was.
I didn’t live in the gray area of life. I was black and white, all in or all out. Structure and discipline were how I almost made it to the Olympics and managed to get straight A’s in every class I’d taken since the seventh grade.
Jesse didn’t exactly share my intensity, nor did he appreciate how often my pursuits took me away from him. The funny part was that he actually expected me to give up my career to stay home and be his dutiful wife. As if. I never understood how he could pretend to be so supportive of my medical career until it directly conflicted with the life he wanted.
I suppose I should be grateful to have gotten out of the engagement sooner rather than later (if you consider five years to be sooner), but the breakdown of that relationship tripped me up more than I’d expected. I didn’t want to choose between love and my career, and anyone who would ask me to do that wasn’t someone I wanted to be with. It still sucks, though.
Thankfully, Dr. Aster was right: the more I got to know him, the more I realized I didn’t need to worry about the scene I’d caused the night we met. The guy was a fun and charismatic person. The fact that I thought he was a serious head doctor made me chuckle.
I had a good deal of admiration for him. He was obviously a beautiful male specimen. Tall and gorgeous, with a brilliant smile that sometimes took my breath away when it reached his hazel eyes. His looks weren’t his best quality, though, which is saying a lot. It was his personality. The man was like a magnet, drawing everyone to him. He was joyful, energetic, flirty, and filled with life. The only drawback was that every woman wanted him, and he knew it. I wouldn’t be shocked if he had a different woman in his bed every night.
He was cocky enough to proclaim that he didn’t do relationships because he didn’t want to end up in my shoes, recruiting helpless, unsuspecting people at bars to be his date. I knew he would never let me live it down, but the upside was that it gave us something to bond over, no matter how stupid it made me look.
Now, I just had to show him what I was really made of, and he needed to stop goofing around long enough to notice.
“This was probably the longest on-call shift I’ve ever worked,” Dan said, the nurse who’d been practically running from room to room with me all night, delivering babies.
“I’ve only been here a week, and I’m convinced this isn’t normal,” I laughed. “I swear, as soon as one sweet baby popped into the world, another was behind it, ready to join the party.”
“How many babies did we wind up delivering?” he asked.
